Food services and drinking places, January 2026
Released: 2026-03-26
$8.7 billion
January 2026
1.3% 
(monthly change)
$94.2 million
January 2026
3.0%
(monthly change)
$38.3 million
January 2026
2.6%
(monthly change)
$206.3 million
January 2026
1.7%
(monthly change)
$148.8 million
January 2026
2.8%
(monthly change)
$1,648.4 million
January 2026
1.3%
(monthly change)
$3,385.5 million
January 2026
0.2%
(monthly change)
$250.2 million
January 2026
2.6%
(monthly change)
$225.7 million
January 2026
2.2%
(monthly change)
$1,149.4 million
January 2026
3.1%
(monthly change)
$1,504.2 million
January 2026
1.9%
(monthly change)
$10.0 million
January 2026
1.3%
(monthly change)
$7.2 million
January 2026
4.2%
(monthly change)
F
January 2026
F
(monthly change)
Total sales in the food services and drinking places subsector increased 1.3% in January to $8.7 billion.
Non-seasonally adjusted prices for food purchased from restaurants were up 12.3% in January when compared with January 2025. Unadjusted prices for alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments increased 9.0% over the same period. These were particularly large increases in the year-over-year Consumer Price Index caused by the temporary GST/HST break in effect at the start of 2025, which lowered the prices consumers paid for food and some alcoholic beverages at restaurants.
Chart 1
Sales in food services and drinking places
Special food services and limited-service eating places lead gains
In January, the largest increase in sales came from special food services (+8.5%), followed by limited-service eating places (+1.1%). Higher sales were also observed in full-service restaurants (+0.2%) and drinking places (+1.4%). Year-over-year increases were observed at full-service restaurants (+7.7%), special food services (+11.6%) and limited-service eating places (+1.6%), whereas sales at drinking places (-0.7%) declined.
Sales increase in all provinces
Sales increased in every province in January, largely led by Alberta (+3.1%), British Columbia (+1.9%), and Quebec (+1.3%).
Looking for more insight?
More information is available in the "Food Services and Drinking Places Sales" dashboard, where users can consult data on sales in food services and drinking places for Canada and by province and territory. This application allows users to compare provincial and territorial data through interactive maps and charts.
Note to readers
Unless otherwise noted, all data in this release are seasonally adjusted and expressed in current dollars. Seasonally adjusted data are data that have been modified to eliminate the effect of seasonal and calendar influences to allow for more meaningful comparisons of economic conditions from period to period. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
Trend-cycle data are included in selected charts to complement the seasonally adjusted series. These data represent a smoothed version of the seasonally adjusted time series and provide information on longer-term movements, including changes in direction underlying the series. For information on trend-cycle data, see the page Trend-cycle estimates – Frequently asked questions.
Data for the current reference month are preliminary. Usually, unadjusted data are revised for the previous two months, and seasonally adjusted data are revised for the previous three months. Both seasonally adjusted data and trend-cycle estimates are subject to revision as additional observations become available. These revisions could be large and could even lead to a reversal of movement, especially for reference months near the end of the series or during periods of economic disruption.
Find these data and more statistics on the Business and consumer services and culture statistics portal.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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